


Long Distances and Granola Bars

by strawberriesandtophats



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Character Death, College, Friendship, Gen, Loss, Running
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 18:05:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4574484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberriesandtophats/pseuds/strawberriesandtophats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harold gets a phone call about his father having passed away and makes himself disappear. Nathan and Arthur find him running laps in the football field and try to take care of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Long Distances and Granola Bars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [potc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/potc/gifts).



Nathan had never seen anything like this before, and he never will again. He had never really understood how privileged he had truly been before he met Harold, with this ancient suitcases with only four changes of shirts and home knitted socks and the bare basics of a wardrobe. 

Before Arthur had slammed him against a wall after Harold had gone silent for a very long time after Nathan had let something slip about Harold‘s appearance and thick Midwestern accent that slipped out when he was exited or angry. Arthur had explained, with clenched teeth and rage in his normally calm voice, that he should treat Harold better than this. Arthur had explained that when he had gotten the phone call that his mother had passed away Harold had stayed with him all through the night in silence, his arm across his shoulders while Arthur talked about her. 

And Harold stared straight ahead while they walked down the corridor, clinging so hard to them that his fingers dug into their shoulders., He looked somehow terrifying, drenched in sweat, his hair sticking up and his clothes clinging to him. Harold‘s legs were shaking so badly that even with both Nathan and Arthur supporting him he could barely put one in front of the other. They had found him on the football field, running lap after lap, shaking with exhausting and still going. Finally, Harold had collapsed, falling to the ground. They had raced to him, kneeling beside him before picking him up. Harold had tried to stand and halfheartedly pushed them away, before realizing who they were and grabbing them by their arms.

"It‘s alright,“ Nathan heard himself say, "we‘ll take care of you. Remember that time when we all had to do an all-nighter to finish that project and you made sure that we had lots of water and got fresh air sometimes?“  
Nathan remembered that Harold had made them very strong coffee, then refused to drink it himself and had poured himself tea instead. Then Harold had fixed Arthur‘s car in the morning when it had refused to start, and then looked at both of them with surprise when they had both asked him how he had done all that without any kind of manual. Harold had not answered that question, and instead began to talk about the car model and how it could be hot-wired. Nathan now knew more about Arthur’s car than he cared to admit.

"I know you really like running, Harold,“ Arthur said, "but we kind of had to stop you before you fainted.“  
In many ways, Harold had helped them out as a gesture of friendship before this. But now, now Arthur and Nathan were grabbing Harold by the shoulders, because Harold could not walk. Because Harold was barely breathing, and his eyes and voice were jarringly empty. Arthur was motioning to Nathan to get Harold some water from a water fountain that was further along the hallway, while refusing to let go of Harold himself, who had not said anything since they had carried him from the football field. His father had died, Arthur had told Nathan as they searched for Harold in all the computer labs and science labs, and even in the library. They had to find him, Nathan had replied, quickening his pace.

Arthur was talking, something about getting Harold into a hot shower and finding soap and towels somewhere. Nathan knew that Arthur would pour orange juice into a tall glass and push some kind of food on a plate towards Harold later on, and tried to make some sort of a joke about running. 

And then Harold looked at Nathan, and Nathan saw what hell felt like.

The words died in his throat.

He knew, instinctively that nothing he would say would be of much help, so Nathan hurried into the nearest bathroom with a working shower, turned on the shower and gathered all the clean towels he could find, two bars of soap and some shampoo. He threw some wet towels on the floor so that Harold would not slip on the tiles and nodded at Arthur, who was taking off Harold‘s sneakers as Harold sat down on the wooden bench, tearing off his t-shirt.

"Stay with Harold until I come back with his clothes!“ Nathan said, as Arthur and Harold made their way inside the bathroom. Nathan ran to the dorm room which he shared with Harold and picked up a pair of grey trousers and a clean shirt and undershirt, as well as some mustard yellow socks and a pair of worn sneakers. Nathan thought of washing Harold‘s dirty clothes while he slept as well as tidying their room would be an acceptable risk, since Harold would not be in any mood to do any of that for some time. It also turned out that if Nathan hid his stash of homemade granola bars underneath Harold‘s bed, then Harold would assume that these granola bars were Harold‘s granola bars that he had forgotten he owned, and would eat them. Nathan resolved to make a large batch of granola bars, the recipe Harold favored, which was the original Grandma Ingram recipe and put half of them underneath Harold‘s bed, beside the suitcases and the box of extra computer parts Harold kept there.

When Nathan came back to the bathroom, Harold was drying himself with a towel, and Nathan handed Harold an old bathrobe Nathan had owned for God knew many years. Harold put it on wordlessly, and said nothing when Nathan playfully dried Harold‘s hair by rubbing one of the towels over his head a couple of times. He‘d get Harold to smile after a few hours, and Arthur was already on his way back from the drinking fountain, with a glass full of cold water. Things would be strange for some time, Nathan thought as they headed back to Harold‘s and Nathan‘s dorm room, and they would have to keep an eye out for Harold, but that was fine. Things would be fine.


End file.
